The Suggestive Lineup

After his arrest, Mr. Heidelberg was first taken to St. Francis Hospital where he received treatment for the injuries he suffered at the hands of the police officers present at the scene of his arrest. It is undisputed that several Peoria police officers beat and kicked Mr. Heidelberg as he lay handcuffed on the ground in the backyard of 1614 W. Butler. At St. Francis Hospital, Mr. Heidelberg received five stitches for a cut over his left eye. Mr. Heidelberg was then transported back to the Peoria County Jail and placed in a police lineup with three other men. It is undisputed that Mr. Heidelberg’s bandage over his left eye was removed prior to the lineup, thereby exposing his injuries. Officer Manias, who conducted the lineup, testified about the bandage as follows:

Q: Did you take the bandage off his face?

A: No, I didn’t take it off, but I realized he had one on and I went to what we call the commissary and got a bandage which I was going to place on one of the other suspects so that we would have two men that had the bandage, but in the meantime someone removed it, the bandage, so it wasn’t necessary to put a bandage on anyone else.

At the motion to suppress hearing, Mr. Heidelberg described the encounter as follows:

Q: Can you tell us what happened after these three men were broughr down from upstairs?

A: Someone told me to get in the lineup. I told them I wasn’t going to get in the lineup. I think it was this Officer Manias, when I told him this, he followed me into Sergeant Sample and told him I wouldn’t go. They said run him on in anyway and get him booked. I was ordered into this room where desks is at in front of the lineup, the booking room so to speak. I still didn’t make any move toward the direction but I was pushed into that room.

Q: Do you recall who pushed you into that room?

A: Two County officers in the hallway.

Q: What happened after you were pushed in the room?

A: I was in the middle of the room. They said to get the bandage off or send him back out. When I got back in the hallway I was grabbed and the bandage [was] jerked off my eye.

Q: Did that cause any bleeding or pain to your eye?

A: It busted two stitches and it started bleeding down the left side of my face.

Mr. Heidelberg also testified that “I couldn’t hardly see out of my left eye it was swollen.” All of the witnesses viewing the lineup were likely aware that the offender had crashed a vehicle after a high-speed chase and had subsequently been arrested by the Peoria police. The fact that Mr. Heidelberg was the only person in the lineup with visible and obvious injuries rendered the lineup impermissibly and unlawfully suggestive.